My Happy Place Row-Along

Welcome to My Happy Place!

What’s your happy place? Or, like me, do you have trouble narrowing it down? There are so many places to love–I made a list! There’s a quilt shop, a bookstore, a library, a coffee shop, my front porch at sunrise, the beach…and many more. But I realized that I could combine elements of the experiences from my happiest places to create My Ultimate Happy Place.

I wanted a design that YOU can customize to make it YOUR Ultimate Happy Place, too. So I decided to keep the basic design as simple piecing, with raw-edge appliqué for personalization. Plus, there’s enough negative space for you to add elements as you desire. I made two samples of the basic design to show you what a dramatic difference your fabric choices can make in the mood of your row, then I finished one of them to show you what quilting can add to the design. It’s a quick, simple finish with plenty of opportunity to customize the look. You’ll find some suggestions for personalization below, and I’d love to hear about your ideas, too!

Beach Reading

I grew up along the New Jersey shore, and nothing beats the sound of the ocean and the cry of the seagulls for a peaceful, lovely way to start the day–but it gets even better if I’m accompanied by a good book (or three). Although I live a few miles inland now, I still love to sit on my east-facing porch in the mornings to watch the sunrise–and a cup of coffee is never far away. So I combined these elements to illustrate my perfect peaceful morning.

In this case, I opted to keep my row unembellished to leave you free to experiment with your own Happy Place and used quilting to create texture. I stitched in the ditch around the railing and between the sky, water, and sand sections, then switched to free-motion quilting to illustrate clouds (and a few birds), the churning and swirling of the ocean, and the effect that waves have along the sandy shoreline. I also waited to stitch down the appliqué until after the quilt had been sandwiched, to add some dimension to the table, books, and mug in the foreground.

Northcott Fabrics generously provided us with fabric to create our rows (I had already finished my first version before I learned this), and I decided to play with their Naturescapes line. It was truly a pleasure to work with–the fabric has a nice hand and the designs can’t be beat. I chose a very stormy sea fabric, and my daughter and I have plans to turn the “happy place” notion upside-down by adding sea monsters and spilling the coffee (GASP!), as well as putting nautical book titles on the spines of the books. You know, like “Jaws” and “Moby Dick”–good uplifting fare!

This version of the background was made with Northcott Naturescapes fabrics.Northcott Naturescapes 21390-42Northcott Naturescapes 21391-62Northcott Naturescapes 21399-35Northcott Naturescapes 21386-12

The Beach Reading pattern will be free to download until September 14, 2018.

Personalizing Your Row

Add white lace, ribbons, or other embellishments for whitecaps.

Hand-stitch real seashells onto the beach after quilting.

Put your favorite book titles onto the spines of the books.

Change up your drink! Create a wineglass if that’s more your style.

Want company? Put some beach umbrellas out on the sand.

Or some boats in the ocean, if you don’t want anyone that close.

Kites or birds in the sky will break up that long expanse of empty fabric nicely.

Use your imagination and appliqué a mermaid’s tail as she dives under the waves.

Carol of Quilt Schmilt plans to add her grandchildren’s toys out on the beach…

…which made me think a sandcastle might be a nice addition, too.

PJ Miller plans on a hammock and a glass of Diet Pepsi! Mmmm, a hammock to read in at the beach….

Elizabeth had the clever idea of adding some flower boxes to the railing. I think some nice red geraniums would add wonderful contrast!

Sharon Aurora thought to add a plate of pecan pie and an embroidery hoop. Wouldn’t that allow you some fantastic embellishment opportunities? You could even “embroider” on the hoop for extra personalization.

April suggested a seagull on the railing. If you put it over on the right, it would definitely add some balance to the row.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Show and Tell Day

Many thanks to Marian of Seams to Be Sew for organizing this wonderful row-along and coordinating all of the giveaways. Speaking of which….

And Now…The Giveaways!

Enter via the Rafflecopter entry below, and you could win an Inspired LED Sewing Machine Lighting Kit valued at $30(US). Adding an LED strip to the throat of your machine can make an enormous difference in your sewing experience!

This contest is open worldwide, and the winner pays for shipping of the prize.

Complete rules from row-along organizer Seams to Be Sew are included in the Rafflecopter entry or can be read in their entirety HERE.

The following Rafflecopter is to enter to win Electric Quilt 8 software (EQ8), valued at $239.95(US)! I started using Electric Quilt software a couple of years ago and find it especially useful for determining yardage and also for easy color/fabric placement experimentation. It’s fun to play with the orientation of your blocks, too, for a simple way to play with your quilt design layouts.

Complete rules from row-along organizer Seams to Be Sew are included in the Rafflecopter entry or can be read in their entirety HERE.

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76 Replies to “My Happy Place Row-Along”

Hi, I grew up in DE and every summer, every weekend you could you went to “the shore”. Just listening to the gulls & waves put me to sleep on that hot, hot, hot sand. This row brings back so many memories.

Thank you for a great row idea. My daughter is a school librarian and her daughter (my only granddaughter) is going to school in Maine. We were lucky enough to visit Maine in August, and the beaches are beautiful. I know that my daughter would love to have this for her office, so I’m going to make her one!!

Nice row! I can’t wait to see what you do with your second version. I’m not sure how I’ll personalize mine, but I’m loving the idea. Maybe a piece of pecan pie with whipped cream. Maybe one of the books will be Little Women, which brings back good memories of my oldest daughter and I reading it together when she was a kid. Maybe a hoop with embroidery. So many possibilities. Thank you for such a wonderful pattern.

Hi! Thank you for letting me know you had trouble with the download. I confirmed that your order went through, and my records show that the file has been downloaded. It may be in a Download file on your computer or phone. I resent your order confirmation with a link to download it again, plus a separate email asking you to let me know via email if you still can’t find it so I can help you resolve the problem. Have a great day! -Becca

The row is great! I can picture sitting by the beach enjoying a book. The wavy line quilting makes the water move as it would at the beach. The rough sea fabric is perfect for jaws or a sea monster. This is a row I would like make for my kitchen table, where I usually sit and read with a cup of tea. (sorry, not a coffee drinker)

It would be easy to add a little tea bag string and tab over the side of the mug to make it clear what’s in there, wouldn’t it? If you do something like that, I hope you’ll share a photo with me! I hope to see lots of rows that I can feature in a future round-up on the blog.

Thanks so much for being a part of the “My Happy Place” QAL. Your hard work and time involved are much appreciated! Thanks for the chance to win such a great prize too!! Who can’t use new LED lights on their machines!!? Vivian
wvoaks at comcast dot net

I love that row! Its fun to see it in two different fabrics and I love your colluding with your daughter for a more sinister version. I love the Jersey shore – we went to Stone Harbor and Avalon for many years…. I miss those long gorgeous beaches and expanse of sand – something I don’t see as much of in Maine.

I love the design! Your first block is beautiful, but the fabrics in the second are incredible! I love Northcott Fabrics. I think my happy place will include books, coffee or perhaps a cup of tea, and perhaps the grandkids sand toys on the beach. Too much fun to play with design ideas!

I love how you created this row with not only your happy places but the ability for the quilter who re-creates this pattern to add to the happy places to meet there needs also. Adding ideas to help enhance the row is also very nice to see. Beautiful job Becca and I for one am thrilled you joined us for the row along this year.

Thanks for shary ing your lovely Happy Place Row. I would customize my Beach Reading row by adding evergreens and rock along the horizon as that is just what I see when out reading on the front deck coffee in hand.

I just love the textured quilting on your row- it really makes the quilt “feel” like the ocean waves! Great job with brainstorming ideas for personalization- the flexibility of your row makes for a myriad of possibilities.

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Rules for the My Happy Place Row-Along Giveaway

{NOTE FROM BECCA: These are the rules provided by Marian, the row-along organizer from Seams to Be Sew. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact her directly.}

Rules and Guidelines For Giveaways
Please take the time to read it.

Giveaways offered by sponsors are assigned to the various bloggers for their featured day.

There are no prior announcements on who is doing which sponsor except to the sponsor themselves.

You’ll have to visit the blog or the featured blog to enter the giveaways.

Not all giveaways can be entered at Seams To Be Sew.

I will start announcing winners on September 11, 2018, and finish announcing winners on October 10, 2018.

In most cases, the blog where you won at also will announce their
winners.

You must give a valid email address when you enter the giveaways, any email returned to me, loses the ability to win automatically.

With the exception of Show and Tell Day, all giveaways run for approximately one week.

You are given 3 days to answer the email, if you do not answer within 3 days a new winner will be drawn. Check those spam/junk mail folders, you may miss that winning email if you don’t do so because there are no exceptions to this rule.

If you are notified that you are a winner, in most cases, you will need to provide your name, address, city, state, zip code, country, telephone number, and email address.

In some cases, you will be asked to comment on the blog to enter the giveaway… do the right thing and thank them for the time it took to create the pattern, thank them for the pattern and…

Thank the sponsor by buying their products for the giveaways. This helps them continue to offer great prizes for these types of events. You can also comment on their social media pages. Even if you don’t win, letting them know you love their products is a huge incentive and they really do love hearing from you.

No purchase whatsoever is necessary.

You must be 18+ in order to win a gift.

You are responsible for claiming and paying any tax owed on the value of any gift that you win. Prizes valued at $500.00 should be claimed.

All winners are chosen at random.

All winners will be announced on the blogs via the Rafflecopter entry form and/or post by the blogger at the site where they won and here at Seams To Be Sew. All winners must allow for their first name and first initial of their last name to be announced on this blog.

Odds of Winning a prize are based on a total number of rafflecopter entries during each week and in total for all giveaways.

This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.

Participating bloggers may enter any of the giveaways.

The word giveaways in the rules and guidelines are also known as sweepstakes.

Most of the giveaways are international shipping this year
in some cases, you will be asked to pay for shipping your giveaways.

I am not rich and I do not ask sponsors for money, they provide prizes only.

If they shipped the prize to me, you will be asked to pay for shipping.
All giveaways will be shipped that are in my home within 48 hours of my having heard from you.

An invoice will be sent to you via Paypal, and shipping will take place via Paypal, so your Paypal email will be needed to send the invoice. You will receive a tracking number except for overseas shipments. All shipping will either be first class which averages out at 2.77 to 4.00 up to 13 ounces. Paypal fees are added to that amount to cover that fee. All fabric bundles from Michael Miller, Hoffman, and Moda will be shipped via Priority Mail to protect the fabric itself.

Please note, every effort is made to protect the prizes. They go into a plastic bin when I receive them, and it is covered by an air tight cover. I have a dog in my home and I have a smoker in my home, so I do everything possible to protect the prizes.

Most companies are very good about getting prizes off to customers quickly also, but some companies are overseas, so please allow all sponsors a 2-week time period before you report to me that you still haven’t received your prize. When the company is overseas, it can take 6 weeks to 90 days for an item to also arrive.

Whether or not you read the above, the rules for giveaways are in place to protect everyone. I do not want to hear you didn’t read them, they will be posted on my blog daily during each featured day. There is no excuse for not reading them.

{NOTE FROM BECCA: These are the rules provided by Marian, the row-along organizer from Seams to Be Sew. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact her directly.}